Original Airdate: April 6, 1998 (taped March 31)
From Syracuse, New York; Your Host is Jim Ross, with Michael Cole (hour one), and with Jerry Lawler (hour two)
Vince McMahon joins us to start, and he’s drawing some serious heel heat. He announces that WWF Champion Steve Austin has, thankfully, learned his lesson following his arrest, and he’s ready to conform to Vince’s vision for what a WWF Champion should be
Dan Severn video package
Flash Funk v Dan Severn: Severn brings not only the NWA World title with him, but a variety of UFC belts, just to add to the surreal nature. That UFC Superfight belt is enormous, and seemed crazy huge back in 1998, but today has become kind of the modern style. Not that there weren’t some massive belts in the old days too (the Mid South North American title comes to mind), but it’s become the norm now. Jim Cornette sits in on commentary here, as Dan schools Flash on the mat. Severn tries a suplex, but Funk topples him, and unloads mounted punches. Reverse spinkick finds the mark, but Severn fights back with another suplex, and gets an armbreaker on for the submission at 2:52. Severn was already fighting an uphill battle in the WWF, but saddling him with Cornette and the NWA basically doomed him. Which is a shame, because he could have been a Brock Lesnar type badass if programmed correctly. ¼*
Backstage, DX act like a bunch of middle schoolers
The 10-321 Rewind is DX destroying Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in the cage last week. I never actually made a collect call in my life, but I remember being really disturbed when it randomly became 10-10-321 later in the year, and recall posting in an AOL chat room (yeah) trying to figure out why it happened. It’s interesting, we live in a world now when one can find the actual answer to something in a matter of seconds (as opposed to relying on other clueless people to fill us in), and yet we live in a time of mass disinformation and conspiracy theories. Life is weird
DX join us, and with WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac part of the group now, the act is really coming together. Not that the HHH/Shawn Michaels/Chyna version wasn’t incredible (it was superior in many ways, in fact), but the pieces are now there giving us the version of the group that most people think of when they remember this era of wrestling. Which makes sense, since they became babyfaces, and because the number of eyes on the product was much higher than during the Michaels led version
Backstage, DX terrorize some production guy - stuffing him in a trashcan, and spraypainting it
Brian Christopher v Steve Blackman: Christopher mocks Blackman at the bell, so Steve nails him with some martial arts moves. Monkeyflip, but Christopher blocks, as Tennessee Lee joins us to do commentary. Christopher with an overhead wristlock, but Blackman counters to a hammerlock. Criss cross ends in Steve sweeping the leg, so Brian rakes the eyes to buy time. He tries to turn the tide, but Blackman delivers a pop-up flapjack, only to get distracted by Lee… despite the fact that Lee isn’t doing anything whatsoever to distract him. That allows Christopher a side suplex, and a Russian facebuster follows. Christopher with a 2nd rope dropkick, and a somersault cradle gets him two. Piledriver, but Steve counters with a whiplash, and he makes a comeback. Inverted sidewalk slam connects, but a dropkick does not, and Christopher throws a clothesline. Brian with a flying axehandle, but Steve blocks, and delivers a bicycle kick to set up a submission at 4:57. Basic, but solid. Afterwards, Jeff Jarrett comes out of the crowd to blast Blackman with a guitar. * ¼
Backstage, DX come upon DOA’s motorcycles, so HHH dares the others to piss on them
The Bop It Slam of the Week is LOD 2000 delivering the Doomsday Device last week
Cactus Jack joins us, and he’s sporting a neck brace following last week’s cage match. He cuts a great babyface promo on DX here, and once again, I’m not sure what they’re going for with the group, since they’re acting like juvenile babyfaces, but they’re programmed against a much bigger and better babyface. I guess everything worked out fine in the end, so there’s no reason to overthink it now, but the booking is just perplexing. And, in fact, Jack kind of abandons the babyface act by the end of the promo, and suddenly he’s bitter about the fans cheering for Steve Austin, making a quasi heel turn here. He demands a ‘group apology’ from the crowd, but it isn’t forthcoming, so Jack announces that he’s done with the promotion, and walks out. This was a good segment, as Jack did a great job of walking the line, and painting with shades of gray
Earlier today, the Nation of Domination ambushed former leader Faarooq when he arrived at the arena
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Rock v Owen Hart: Rock pounds him into the corner, but misses a charge, and Hart armdrags him into an armbar. Rock counters into a hammerlock, and he uses a takedown to taunt his challenger a bit. Owen works a wristlock, but Rock reverses, so Owen reverses back, and armdrags him back into an armbar. Kama Mustafa trips him up, but the referee sees it, and ejects the Nation from ringside. Rock flips out, and Owen fails to capitalize, just kind of standing there until Rock pays attention to him again. That was some weak stuff for a Hart. Owen tries a sleeper, but Rock quickly escapes, and DDTs his challenger for two. Rock with a shoulderbreaker to set up the Peoples Elbow for two, and a cross corner clothesline connects. A second one misses, however, and Hart makes a comeback. Swinging neckbreaker gets Hart two, so he takes the champion into the corner for a ten-punch, then drills him with a spinheel kick for two. Leg-feed enzuigiri sets up the Sharpshooter, but Chyna runs in with a baseball bat to attack Owen - earning him a hollow DQ victory at 5:46. This was kind of rough going most of the way through, but it got good in the final lap. ¾*
Vince is back, ready to unveil his corporate champion, and he’s got a couple of cops with him just in case. He introduces the ‘new and improved’ Steve Austin, and Austin comes through the curtain in a suit and tie, though wearing a ball cap. Steve marching over to the corner to do his usual pose, but Vince shooting him a ‘cool it’ gesture that Steve immediately complies with by lamely lifting his fist in the air instead is an incredible touch. So Vince is beaming about Austin’s compliance, though he’s a little annoyed that he’s got wrestling boots on instead of his Gucci shoes, and don’t even get him started on the hat. Vince chucks it out into the crowd (“that was a damned good hat…”), but he appreciates Steve’s effort, and with time, he’s sure he’ll mold him into a proper champion. The implication that this is what he did with earlier stars, but without actually saying it is another nice touch. Vince wants to hear what caused Austin’s change of heart, and Steve gives him exactly what he’s looking for: telling Vince that he’s the boss, that he’s the man, and submitting to him. And then Steve gives McMahon a little more than he bargained for, tearing the suit off, and hitting the boss in the nuts. This was a great segment. The chemistry between McMahon and Austin is so unreal, and both Ross and Lawler enhanced the segment throughout as well. Just tremendous stuff
The DOA storm out, feeling pissy about DX’s pissy behavior. They throw out a challenge to them for tonight
Luna Vachon v Matt Knowles: Goldust beats up Matt before the bell, allowing Luna to hit him with a monkeyflip, and a flying headbutt drop at 0:27. Nice callback with the finisher there. As was Lawler referencing Andy Kaufman. I’m fine with angles disguised as matches on TV shows, but this one didn’t really have a point to it. DUD
Val Venis vignette
Marc Mero v Ken Shamrock: Mero comes at him with fists to start, but a clothesline misses, and Shamrock responds with strikes of his own. Ken with a clothesline, so Mero fights back with a kneelift, and more jabs. Ken responds in kind and take him down for a cross-armbreaker, but Mero is in the ropes before Shamrock can get it properly applied. Mero with more right hands, so Ken throws a backelbow, and a leg lariat connects. Rana, but Mero counters with a sitout powerbomb. TKO looks to finish, but Shamrock counters with a belly-to-belly suplex. Anklelock, but the Nation is running in, so Shamrock bails to grab a chair, and the match is thrown out at 2:52. Shamrock tries holding the high ground with the chair, but the heels manage to overwhelm him, and they deliver a beatdown. Bad match, bad finish, but good angle development, so it’s forgivable. DUD
Kevin Kelly brings Undertaker out to talk about the rematch with Kane at Unforgiven, with Undertaker accepting Kane’s challenge for the Inferno match. That cues Kane and Paul Bearer on the Titantron for a promo from a graveyard. I know people like(d) it, but Undertaker/Kane stuff is the worst part of these shows for me
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Triple H and The New Age Outlaws v Chainz, Skull, and 8-Ball: X-Pac does guest commentary for this one. The DOA run in to kickstart the match, and the dust settles on Jesse James and Chainz. Chainz dominates that, until Jesse makes the tag to Billy Gunn. He doesn’t enjoy much better luck against Skull, and 8-Ball tags in for a double team on Billy. Gunn manages to snap Skull’s throat across the top rope ahead of a tag to HHH, and DX take control of the match. They work over Skull, but 8-Ball catches the tag, and hits Helmsley with a sidewalk slam. Over to Chainz, so the heels run in without tags, and Roseanne Barr the door! Chainz with a powerslam on HHH, but Gunn breaks the count at one and HHH Pedigrees Chainz at 7:35. Afterwards, DX deliver a beatdown, until LOD 2000 make the save. ½*
BUExperience: This episode drew the closest ratings between the two Monday night shows since way back in August of 1996, as the WWF really started hitting their stride. This episide was very angle heavy, but the angles and characters are all really strong, so it absolutely worked.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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